Jim,
'68s and '69s were not identical. Several modifications were added such as
side marker lights and 3 windscreen wipers instead of 2. I think several
modification were done to the engine regarding smog stuff. I think '69s had
(smog) air pumps and '68s didn't. (not positive on this one). I'm not sure
it would have stopped anyone from selling a '68 as a '69 though...:-)
Gerard
At 5:09 PM -0700 10/11/99, Jim Algar wrote:
>A question for the list:
>
>I've always assumed that the 1969 Sprite Mk. IV (like mine)
>was the last year for Sprites in the U.S. Anybody out there
>driving a 1970 Sprite? (By out there, I mean the U.S. - I
>know that in the U.K. the Sprite soldiered on until 1971,
>when it wasn't even a Healey, just an Austin Sprite - what
>was BMC thinking?)
>
>But here's some confusion: I've got the Lindsay Porter
>restoration book, in which he says (and I quote): "Two years
>after launching the 1275cc Mk. IV Sprite/Mk. III Midget, no
>more Sprites were shipped to the United States...In the same
>year of 1968, Midgets and British Sprites were changed to
>negative earth electrics, though still with dynamo and a few
>other relatively minor changes made including the
>substitution of a cross-flow radiator."
>
>O.K., that's my car: negative ground, generator (dynamo) and
>cross-flow radiator; bought new in August of 1969 as a 1969
>Mk. IV. Yet Porter says that in 1968 (or at some point in
>the year) no more Sprites were shipped to the U.S.
>
>According to him, the next change was black sills and
>Rostyle wheels, in October of 1969, which I'm assuming means
>1970 U.S. Midgets (no more Sprites, remember?).
>
>What I get from this is that although there were lots of
>1969 Mk. IV Sprites sold in the U.S., not a single one of
>them was actually manufactured in 1969 - all were 1968
>built, and probably delivered in 1968. I think I read
>somewhere that it was legal for a dealer to sell a
>1968-manufactured car as a 1969 as long as it was
>*identical* to a 1969-manufactured car. In other words, if a
>dealer had 1968 cars in inventory that hadn't sold by the
>1969 model year, he could advertise and sell them as 1969
>models
>
>Well, this should be fun to chew on for a while. I have a
>Heritage certificate on order; perhaps that will shed some
>light when it arrives. Anyone out there have a '69 Mk. IV
>with a certificate?
>
>Go, gang!
>
>Jim Algar
G G Gerard Chateauvieux
E A
R R pixelsmith@gerardsgarage.com
A A
R G Pixelsmith on Duty
D E
S http://www.gerardsgarage.com
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